1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multi-purpose gurneys. Particularly, the present invention relates to foldable sections of a multi-purpose gurney. More particularly, the present invention relates to cushions on each of the foldable sections of a multi-purpose gurney.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
Gurneys are often used in the hospital environment for patient support and transport. In particular, when a patient is taken to the operating room, the patient is placed upon a gurney and wheeled into the operating room. Once in the operating room, the patient is transferred from the gurney onto the surgical table so that the patient is in a proper position for surgery. The gurney is then removed from the operating room, or placed elsewhere, during the surgical procedure. Subsequent to surgery, the gurney is then returned to the operating room, the patient is placed upon the gurney, and then the patient is wheeled to other locations. The patient is also transferred from the gurney to a wheelchair when the patient leaves the hospital.
Unfortunately, the continual transfer of the patient from the gurney to the surgical table and from the gurney to the wheelchair, is inconvenient, time-consuming, tiresome and potentially injurious. Nurses, and other hospital personnel, often experience back pain, and other assorted injuries, during the transfer of the patient. Often, the patient must be physically lifted from the surgical table and placed upon the gurney and vice-versa. In other circumstances, the improper movement of the patient can adversely affect the surgical procedure or the results achieved from the surgery. As such, a need has developed whereby the gurney is actually used as the operating table and the wheelchair.
Various patents have issued relating to gurneys and operating tables. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,801, issued on Jun. 10, 1990 to Schuerch et al., teaches a patient transporting and turning gurney for receiving and lifting a patient from a hospital bed, for transporting and depositing the patient onto the hospital operating table, and for lifting and turning a patient for surgery. The gurney has a U-shaped base. This base is of sufficiently small dimension to fit under a hospital bed and of sufficiently large dimension to straddle the sides of the conventional operating table pedestal. The gurney further includes an overlying stretcher support for supporting a rotatable stretcher frame. A longitudinally extending rotating stretcher frame is mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis on the stretcher support. There is provided a lifting device for moving the stretcher support upwardly and downwardly relative to the base.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,541, issued on May 12, 1992 to K. E. Wagner, describes a non-metallic gurney for patient transport. This gurney is formed of materials that are non-metallic, non-magnetic and of low electrical conductivity. This gurney is particularly used for modern non-invasive body scanning equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,176, issued on Jan. 4, 1994 to Chandler, describes a surgical operating table particularly adapted for shoulder arthroscopy. The table includes a central seat support, a leg support, and a back support modified to include detachable modular shoulder cut-out to gain access to the posterior aspect of the shoulder. The leg support and back support are hingedly connected to the seat support for positioning the patient in a seating posture by operating mechanical crank arms. The patient is first supported in a supine position, anaesthetized, secured to the table, and the table is thereafter configured to a sitting position. One of the modular shoulder cut-outs is then removed to provide access to the shoulder on which arthroscopy is to be performed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,406, issued on Jun. 19, 1973 to Koetter, discloses an adjustable bed particularly for use in hospitals and nursing homes for which a chassis is provided with at least one telescopically expandable pan, a bed frame tiltable relative to the chassis, at least one lifting assembly being disposed on the chassis, and at least one foot for each extendable part of the span. The bed frame has a middle portion and two end portions hinged to the middle portion. At least one lifting assembly is disposed at each end of the middle portion of the bed frame for adjusting the bed frame to various elevated and inclined positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,804,846, issued on Oct. 19, 2004 to Schuerch, discloses an adjustable position shoulder arthroscopy chair for surgical operating tables consisting of a back supporting platform pivotally attachable to the end of the table and an externally powered position actuator mounted at the base of the platform nearest the table and pivotally mounted to the platform at a location spaced apart from the base. The actuator is extendable and retractable and may be powered either electrically, hydraulically, or by compressed air. The extension and retraction of the actuator is controlled by a suitable device within the actuator or remote from it.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,876, issued on Jul. 27, 1999 to Haigh et al., discloses a device for adapting a surgical operating table such that the upper torso of the patient can be raised in order to place the patient in a seated position, the device further providing the means of exposing or supporting a side of the patient's upper torso and limbs. The device contains a continuously adjustable positioning mechanism, and corresponding actuator for the mechanism, in a way that a user can rapidly and conveniently put a patient in the desired position, from a supine posture to a fully seated position. Additionally, the device does not render the surgical table permanently modified, as the process of modification is reversible by means of a simple attachment mechanism. The device uses a back support section hingedly connected to a base frame, this base frame providing the attachment support to the surgical table. Side support panels are either moved out of the way on the patient's operative side, or left in place to provide support to the unaffected side. Two embodiments are described that differ solely in the way the back support surface is implemented.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,450, issued on Apr. 21, 1987 to Thompson, discloses a multi-position bed for use in hospitals. The bed has a base frame supported on casters and having a pair of pivoted angled lifting arms. One lifting arm is pivoted in turn to an interlink pivoted to a pivot bracket. Another lifting arm is pivoted directly to a second pivot. Pivot brackets act as the pivot supports for the center section of a mattress platform which also comprises two side sections. The side sections are not hinged directly to the center section but simply have inter-engaging features in the form of side frame registers. When the bed is used as a turning bed the inter-engaging features disengage. The side sections are carried by pairs of links which join the pivot brackets to the side sections at points underneath the side sections. These side sections are also connected by side frame pivot arms to an end pivot frame at each end of the bed. The pivot frame is rigidly connected to the center bed section. The movement of the bottom links is restricted in a downward direction by bottom link stops. The links may be disconnected and the side sections connected rigidly to the center section so that the mattress platform can be caused to tilt bodily in a lateral sense.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,274, issued on Apr. 18, 1978 to Willis et al., discloses a turning bed which can be tilted mechanically to turn the occupant from side to side, comprising a tilting assembly pivotally secured to a bed frame of known type. The tilting assembly consists of a mattress frame longitudinally divided into at least three parts: a center section with an outer section pivotally connected adjacent each longitudinal side of the center section. The pivotal connection is such that when the center section is tilted, the outer section adjacent the raised side of the center section is tilted as one with the center section, and the outer section adjacent the other side of the center section pivot relative thereto. The center section is pivotally supportable from the bed frame, and can be tilted by a lever secured at one end to the center section, the other end of the lever being moveable (by suitable means such as a screw-and-nut arrangement) to tilt the center section.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,671, issued on May 25, 1971 to Koetter, discloses an adjustable bed that has a chassis, a bed frame disposed on the chassis, two or three hydraulic cylinder piston units disposed at the ends of the bed, an articulated connection between the cylinder and the piston unit and the bed frame so that the bed frame may be moved to various elevated and/or inclined positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,609,862, issued on Sep. 9, 1952 to Pratt, discloses a hospital chair with a base, a frame having three section, and a mechanical lifter that adjusts the height of the chair up and down. The sections of the chair fold up and down to change the chair position to a flat position. The height and positions of the sections are adjusted manually.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,377,649, issued on Jun. 5, 1945 to Quinney, discloses a convertible chair that converts from a chair position to a bed position. Various mechanical ratchets and spools accomplish the objective of changing positions of the chair. The chair has a frame with three sections. The ends of the frame have legs for supporting the sections on the floor. The position of the convertible chair is adjusted manually.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,004, issued on Jul. 16, 1968 to Williams, discloses a hydraulic lift system for wheeled stretchers. The system has a lift mechanism that permits the direct placement of the patient-supporting in end-wise tilt in either direction from any previous position. The lift mechanism has a hydraulic lift cylinder, a positive-displacement pump connected to the hydraulic lift cylinder, a mechanism for operating pumps in unison, a reservoir connected to the pumps, a relief valve positioned between the hydraulic lift cylinder and the reservoir, and a hand-operated valve in fluid communication with the hydraulic lift cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,101,290, issued on Dec. 18, 1936 to Pierson, discloses an invalid chair with a frame having four sections and a base with wheels. The position of the sections is manually adjusted to change the position of the chair from a chair position to a bed position. The base of the chair is of a fixed height.
U.S. Pat. No. 503,969, issued on Aug. 29, 1893 to Huddleston, discloses a corpse dressing table with a movable head section. The head section moves upward relative to the rest of the table so as to position the torso of a corpse at an angle relative to the legs. The table can be folded upon itself for storage and transportation.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/139,946, filed on May 31, 2005 by the present inventor, discloses a gurney for use in arthroscopic surgery that has a base and a frame positioned above the base. The frame has a plurality of deck sections pivotally connected together. One of the deck sections is a torso support section and has a plurality of panels connected together. At least one of the panels is separable from the other panels. The height of the frame above the base can be suitably adjusted by the use of first and second rams which are connected to one of the deck sections. The pivotability of the deck sections and the height-adjusting mechanism allow the gurney to assume a variety of positions.
These prior art multi-purpose gurneys having movable sections that are pivotally connected to one another. The sections of these multi-purpose gurneys have cushions placed thereon so as to firmly and delicately support the patient for the various functions of the multi-purpose gurney. The sections of the multi-purpose gurney are typically moveable so as to position a patient in a flat position, a chair position, and various other positions.
A problem associated with prior art multi-purpose gurneys is that the cushions crumple together when the sections are pivoted relative to one another. For example, the cushion that support the back of a patient crumples with the cushion that supports the buttocks of a patient when the multi-purpose gurney is moved from a flat position to a chair position. The crumpling of the cushions deforms the cushions and decreases the useful life of the cushions. Additionally, the cushion that supports the legs of a patient separates from the cushion that support the buttocks of a patient so as to form a gap between the cushions. The gap subjects the legs of a patient to the hard framework and any mechanisms of the multi-purpose gurney located below the cushions. Thus, there is a need to prevent the crumpling of cushions and to minimize any gaps formed between the cushions.
Various patents have issued relating to moveable cushions used on hospital beds, such as multi-purpose gurneys. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,213,279, issued on May 8, 2007 to Weismiller et al., discloses a bed having a frame, a deck, and a siderail. The deck has a head section, seat section, and foot sections. The head, seat, and foot sections are movable relative to one another. A cushion on the seat section moves with the seat section.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,235, issued on Jan. 8, 2002 to Ruehl, discloses a patient support apparatus that has a base and a patient support platform. The patient support platform has a head portion and a seat portion. The patient support apparatus has links configured to coordinate movement of the head portion of the patient support platform relative to the seat portion of the patient support platform. The cushion of the seat portion moves forward with the seat portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,631, issued on Nov. 4, 1997 to Weismiller et al., discloses bed a having a head end, a foot end, and sides. The bed has a frame and a deck carried by the frame. The deck has an upper deck portion and a central, longitudinal recess in the upper deck portion. The recess is defined by a lower deck portion and walls connecting the lower and the upper deck portions. The bed also includes a mattress that has a planar, upwardly-facing patient surface, side portions resting on the side deck portions, and a central projection extending downwardly into the recess. A first longitudinal deck section is coupled to the deck to pivot about a pivot axis above the lower deck portion between a generally horizontal position and a tilted position.
It is an object of the present invention to prevent crumpling of cushions of a multi-purpose gurney.
It is another object of the present invention to minimize any gaps between cushions that are created when moving sections of a multi-purpose gurney.
It is another object of the present invention to move sections of a multi-purpose gurney between a flat position and a chair position.
It is another object of the present invention to adapt to be used with a pedestal of a typical hospital bed.
It is still another object of the present invention to prevent exposure of a patient to the frame and any mechanism of a multi-purpose gurney.
It is another object of the present invention to position extremities of a patient when the patient is in a beach-chair or lateral-decubitus position.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.